DPD candidates find novel ways of campaigning

DPD candidates find novel ways of campaigning

Bambang Nurbianto
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

Perhaps Bambang Warih Koesoemo wants to convey the message
straightforwardly. To every constituent he meets during his
political campaign these days, the former legislator hands his
name card. Below his name it reads "Senator".

Yes, Bambang is campaigning to be a member of the Regional
Representatives Council (known locally by its acronym DPD), the
closest equivalent to a U.S. senator.

The talkative former legislator, who is now a non-governmental
organization (NGO) activist, aspires to join Indonesia's newest
political creation, since the DPD was only incorporated into the
system for this year's election.

DPD candidates are not party-based. They will be elected
directly by voters on April 5 in the first DPD election.
The country's 32 provinces will have four DPD members each in the
People's Consultative Assembly, which will also include members
of the House of Representatives.

Bambang, and former minister Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, both DPD
candidates from Jakarta, are a rare breed in the nation's
politics in the sense that they have dared to break with past
campaigning practices.

Traditional election campaign methods almost always entail
lengthy speeches, musical entertainment and street parades. The
two candidates have shunned these old ways.

"For me, political campaigning doesn't simply mean winning as
many votes as possible: It's part of the lengthy process of
political education. Therefore, I prefer to talk with voters in
an informal way," said Bambang on Wednesday, a founder of NGO Uni
Sosial Demokrat (Unisosdem).

To realize his campaign vision, Bambang has declined to use
buildings offered by the Jakarta General Elections Commission
thus far.

During the first and second rounds of campaigning, he said, he
held talks with marginalized people such as the homeless and
those targeted for eviction by the city administration. Jakarta
is notorious for its often brutal eviction programs.

Bambang said he preferred to talk directly with people because
he would get first-hand information about their problems.

Bambang said that he realized that by this method of
campaigning he would not reach a huge number of voters.
Therefore, he said, he had also employed other methods like
distributing three million copies of printed material, which had
cost him Rp 500 million (US$ 59,000). These comprise 40 types of
poster, stickers, leaflets, booklets and other printed matter.

"Why did I produce all of this? Because I don't want only to
introduce myself as a DPD candidate. I want also to educate the
people about many things," he said.

Separately, Sarwono said that his preference to talk with
voters was based on a conviction that they did not take
politicians' speeches seriously.

"I know that they're not interested in such speeches and
promises because they've heard it all before," he said.

Campaigning via discussion, he said, would impress the public
because they would become actively involved. Sarwono did not
restrict his discussion to people in meeting places but at other
venues too, including voters' homes.

"With such an informal situation, I want people to express
their ideas, complain about anything. Their aspirations will be
a valuable contribution to me if I am elected a DPD member," said
Sarwono who is also a former secretary-general of the Golkar
Party.

He said he had used discussion-based campaigning while he was
still in Golkar, the formidable political machine of former
president Soeharto that managed to keep the autocrat in power for
more than three decades.

He said the 22-day period for campaigning was less than
adequate but was using it to remind the public about him and his
past activities.

"You can't expect too much from campaigning if you haven't
previously made any political investment -- if you did nothing
for people in the past," Sarwono added.

Both Sarwono and Bambang said their respective campaigning
methods did not rely on the experience of anyone else, including
political candidates from other countries.